Deployed Ga. soldiers home in time for holidays

FORT STEWART, Ga. -- A group of Army soldiers from Fort Stewart is returning home from Afghanistan in time to spend the holiday season with their families.

About 200 soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment were scheduled to arrive Tuesday after spending the past nine months deployed overseas. Family and friends were to greet the troops at the Army post's parade grounds.

The returning soldiers are among the first from Fort Stewart's 3rd Infantry Division to serve in Afghanistan. Previously the Army division focused on Iraq, where its units all served four tours before that war ended last year.

A major reason the returning soldiers get to spend the holidays with their families is because their deployments lasted only nine months as opposed to a full year.